Attorney-Client Privilege (35 page)

“Y
ou going to do it?” Detective Thomas asked when they stepped back into the hallway.

Mankowski thought for a second. “What the hell? Might as well tie up all the loose ends.”

He placed his hand on the doorknob that led into the polygraph room.

“Crap!” He looked back over his shoulder at the room where the Big Buy execs and their attorneys were waiting. “We told them Girlie was sleeping with Phillip Peterman. We have to tell them we were wrong.”

“Are we?” Detective Thomas asked quietly.

“What do you mean?”

“What if she beat the test?”

“She didn’t beat the test,” Mankowski barked. “Not a single question came back inconclusive. She’s innocent.”

“You sure you’re not a little biased?”

“She passed the friggin’ test, okay? Get over it.”

Just then, Rita opened the door and peered out into the hallway. “We’re not waiting in here another minute. We’re leaving. Now.”

Evelyn was standing right behind her, purse in hand.

“Just give us ten more minutes,” Mankowski pleaded. “I didn’t want to tell you this earlier, but we also have Ms. Cortez here. We’re waiting for the results of her polygraph test. We’re asking her questions that pertain to your company. I think you’ll want to know what we find out.”

The possibility of hanging Girlie seemed to be enough to keep both of them corralled just a little longer.

“Fine.” Rita glanced at her watch. “You have ten minutes.”

The door slammed shut.

Mankowski called Grundy out of the room and handed him the piece of paper with Special’s question on it. “I need you to ask Ms. Cortez one more question.”

Grundy took the paper and walked back into the room. Mankowski and Thomas hurried into the adjacent room to watch.

“We have one last question,” Grundy said to Girlie.

She crossed her legs and shrugged. “Just ask until your little heart’s content.”

“Did Tonisha Cosby confess to you that she was lying about being raped by Lamarr Harris before you put her on the witness stand at trial?”

At the same time that her physiological responses began to register on the computer screen, Girlie’s face turned icicle white.

Mankowski’s eyes zeroed in on the computer in front of Grundy. The colorful lines on the screen zigzagged wildly across the computer screen.

“That case wasn’t supposed to be part of this examination.” Girlie spoke in a tight, controlled voice. She was smart enough to try to keep her emotions in check while she was still hooked up to the machine. She stood up and started snatching off the wires pasted to her arm. She slammed down the blood pressure cuff on the table and stomped out of the room.

Mankowski and Thomas met her in the hallway.

“What in the hell was that question about?” Girlie seethed.

Before Mankowski could answer, Special scurried down the hallway with Vernetta right behind her.

“That question was for us,” Special happily announced.

“What are
they
doing here?” Girlie looked at Mankowski with disgust. “I trusted you. You set me up!”

Before he could respond, the Big Buy CEO and general counsel crowded into the hallway, followed by their attorneys.

“I don’t believe this!” Girlie’s hands shot up in the air, then flopped back down to her sides. “I trusted you!”

“Hold on a minute, everybody.” Mankowski feared he was about to lose control of this hormone-infested free-for-all. He turned to Evelyn and Rita. “I was wrong. Girlie was not involved with Phillip Peterman and she didn’t give those documents to the
Journal
.”

“And just how do you know that?” Rita asked.

“Because I just passed a friggin’ lie detector test,” Girlie yelled at her.

“Well, I don’t believe it,” the CEO continued. “Your behavior is atrocious. How could you—”

Nelson grabbed Rita’s upper arm. “This is highly inappropriate. I instruct you not to say another word!”

“I don’t believe it either,” Special said. “You probably found a way to rig the test.”

“Why are you even here?” Girlie spat at Special as if she was an insect.

“I’m here because I want to make sure your ass goes to jail where you belong,” Special spat back.

“I think there’s somebody else here who’s more likely to end up in jail,” Mankowski said. “And not just for financial fraud.” He looked directly at Rita. “We have information that cooking your company’s books wasn’t the only criminal activity you were involved in.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Rita said, pressing a hand to her chest. “That’s nonsense.”

“Not according to the information Ms. Henderson provided us. According to your former executive assistant, you instructed Big Buy’s chief of security to hire someone to break into the Center for Justice to search for Judi Irving’s documents. In the process, your hired-goon assaulted Benjamin Cohen. You also had someone follow Ms. Henderson. Your secretary listened in on your calls and she’s willing to testify to what she heard. We already picked up your security guy. It didn’t take long for him to crack. He says you gave him a pretty nice bonus for his dirty work.”

The very polished Nelson started to stutter and could barely get his words out. “I’m…I’m ordering you not to say another word.” He gripped Rita’s arm even tighter. “This is highly inappropriate. My…my…my client and I are leaving.”

Special sneered as she pointed a finger in Girlie’s direction. “I think we should get back to this scandalous criminal over here. I don’t care what that lie detector test said, I still think you gave those documents to the
Journal
.”

Special turned to face Evelyn and Rita.

“I’m not exactly sure who y’all are, but did you know that her daddy was the founder of Big Buy? He never claimed her ass, though. She turned over Judi Irving’s documents to the
Journal
in order to foil the company’s sale to the Welson Corporation.”

Rita pulled away from Nelson and took a step forward. She stared at Girlie’s face as if she was searching for something she’d lost.

“You’re Harlan’s daughter?”

“Yes, I am.” Girlie’s lips drew back in a lizard-like smile. “Hello, step-mommy dearest.”

“W
hat the hell?” Special and I shouted in unison.

“It’s really getting wild up in here now!” Special exclaimed, turning to Rita. “So
you’re
the one who refused to let her father see her?”

“Sure is,” Girlie said, eying Rita with a lifetime of hatred. “I’m glad to hear you’ll be spending some time in jail. Just consider it payback.”

I stepped forward. “Payback? So you admit turning over those documents to the
Journal
?”

“Nope,” Girlie said smugly. “I didn’t have to.”

She maneuvered around me until she was face-to-face with the general counsel. “Don’t you have something
you’d
like to confess, Auntie Evelyn?”

The general counsel hugged her purse to her chest. “Confess? I…I…don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“My Aunt Evelyn here was the one who handed over those documents to the
Journal
,” Girlie explained, turning back to Mankowski. “That’s why I was at the Four Seasons that day. To confirm a report about a meeting between Evelyn and Phillip Peterman. It was their regular hangout.”

“You told me you were there to meet a client,” Mankowski said, his jawline now taut with anger.

“I did meet with a client that day,” Girlie admitted. “But I was also there to confirm for myself that my investigator’s information was indeed true. Evelyn had been screwing Judi Irving’s boyfriend for weeks before Judi was killed. Phillip hit on Evelyn at a photo shoot for his Big Buy commercial. The Four Seasons was their regular hangout.”

Now all eyes were on the general counsel.

“
You
did this?” Rita positioned herself nose-to-nose with her sister-in-law. “Your brother built this company from nothing. He gave you a job you weren’t even smart enough to have.”

Evelyn’s eyes narrowed. “Get the hell away from me!” Using both hands, she shoved Rita so hard, she stumbled into her attorney.

“Hey, hey, hey! Hold on a minute!” Mankowski rushed over and grabbed Rita, before she could strike back. “This is a police station for Christ’s sake!”

Thomas extended his arm across Evelyn’s upper body, holding her back.

“My brother was a weak, selfish tightwad who somehow managed to marry someone who was even more selfish than he was,” Evelyn shouted at Rita, as she tried in vain to push past Thomas.

“Before you two tear each other apart, let me finish
my
story,” Girlie said calmly.

“All along, the general counsel here was pretending that she wanted to get the sex discrimination case resolved. But she was really hoping it exploded into a class action, jeopardizing the sale to Welson.”

Girlie smiled demurely at Evelyn.

“You hated the fact that your brother’s wife was going to walk away with a hundred-and-twenty-five-million dollars while you’d be lucky to keep your lousy pension. It took me a while, but I figured out your little plan. Every time I proposed something reasonable to resolve the case, you objected. I suggested an early settlement. You dismissed the idea, claiming you didn’t want other employees to ask for money. You even balked at my proposal to pay off all the women employees, but Rita overruled you. So when the class action didn’t stop the buyout, you sent
The Daily Business Journal
those documents you got from your lover, Phillip Peterman.”

 “I don’t have to listen to this nonsense. I’m leaving,” Evelyn said.

Thomas refused to let her pass.

“See,” Girlie said with a satisfied smile, “I didn’t give those documents to the
Journal
. I didn’t have to. Once I found out that my Auntie Evelyn was screwing Phillip Peterman, I knew she’d get her hands on the documents. I had no idea what they were, but if they were harmful to Big Buy, I knew that she hated Rita enough to use them against the company. All I had to do was sit back and wait. And as it turns out I was absolutely right.”

“This is nothing but ridiculous speculation. I haven’t…” Evelyn fumbled for words. “I…I—”

All of a sudden Mankowski’s face brightened and he snapped his fingers.

“Phillip Peterman was with you the night Judi was murdered,” he shouted, pointing at Evelyn. “That’s why he lied about being with his agent. He didn’t want anybody to know that he was sleeping with you.”

Evelyn just stood there, her face awash in guilt.

Her young attorney finally found his voice. “Don’t say another word,” Winbush ordered. “We’re getting out of here.”

“Nice doing business with you, ladies.” Girlie slapped her palms back and forth. “As I said, I didn’t do anything illegal
or
unethical. In fact, I served my client well. I helped Big Buy quickly dispose of a class action that could have cost the company millions. They even gave me a big bonus for a job well done.”

Girlie whirled around until she was facing Mankowski.

“As for you, I’m quite disappointed that you betrayed me like this. And since you screwed me, I’m now going to screw you, so to speak.”

Mankowski’s face contorted as if he’d just swallowed his tongue.

Girlie made eye contact with the whole group as we all waited for her next bombshell.

“While my Auntie Evelyn was bedding Phillip, I was having a ball with the handsome detective here.”

Everybody in the hallway gasped at once. Nobody louder than me.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, detective, but isn’t it a violation of department policy to sleep with a potential witness? Don’t answer that,” she said with a playful wink. “It could be used against you in a court of law. I’ll be contacting both your lieutenant and your captain to let them know about your highly inappropriate conflict of interest.”

Mankowski reached out as if he was going to snatch her, but Thomas grabbed him from behind and pulled him away.

Girlie didn’t even flinch. She seemed to be enjoying the fact that she was the star of this show.

“As we agreed in writing, fellas, those polygraph results should be destroyed. And for the record, I never responded to that last question about Tonisha, and I have no plans to do so. So I guess it’s just her word against mine. Have a nice day, everybody.”

I stepped in front of her.

“Take this with you.” I tried to hand her an envelope, but she wouldn’t take it.

“What’s that?”

“It’s an affidavit recounting a conversation between my friend Special and Tonisha Cosby. Your client admitted that she made up the story about being raped by Lamarr. They had consensual sex that night. Tonisha also said she told you that the night before she was scheduled to testify. You put her on the stand anyway and told her to keep her mouth shut. Lamarr will be using Special’s affidavit in support of his appeal.”

I tried to force the envelope into Girlie’s hand, but she let it fall to the floor.

“And we’re giving a copy to the State Bar too,” Special threw in. “So you can forget about practicing law in this state again, Ms. Thang.”

True to her nature, Girlie did not lose her cool.

She smiled and cocked her head. “I’m assuming you put your little friend here up to prying information out of Tonisha. Since she’s still my client, that’s a violation of the attorney-client privilege, which I’m sure you’re quite familiar with. Your affidavit will never be admitted into evidence.”

“Special and Tonisha are friends,” I said, my bravado surpassing hers. “I wasn’t even aware that Special was meeting with her.”

“I don’t buy that and neither will the court. And if you happen to have a recording of my client, that’ll be inadmissible too.”

I wasn’t about to admit to Special’s illegal activity while standing in front of two cops.

“Since you won’t take my transcript, go home and turn on the TV so you can hear all the nice things your client said about you. I sent a copy of Special’s affidavit to the media. It’s the lead story on CNN, TMZ and ESPN.”

This time, Girlie’s entire face seemed to crack, but just for a second. She hoisted her purse higher on her shoulder, turned and strolled down the hallway.

“See you in court,” I yelled after her.

Girlie pivoted and spun around in her fancy red boots, hands on hips. “Don’t bet on it.”